“It was one of the most dangerous hits I’ve seen in a while,” New York head coach Tortorella said. “Nothing needs to be said about what has to be done.”

The hit overshadowed Marian Gaborik snapping New York’s lengthy power-play drought with his overtime winner. The Rangers hadn’t scored a power-play goal in the seven games prior (a total of 15 opportunities) and had just one man-advantage goal since Christmas.

This was a statement victory for the Rangers as they claimed Eastern Conference dominance from the Bruins. With the win, New York opened up a nine point lead on Boston for top spot in the East, prompting Bruins coach Claude Julien to concede the Rangers were the team to beat.

“No doubt, right now they’re playing the best,” Julien said. “They’re playing like we did last year when we were playing well. Right now that’s the identity we’re looking for again.”

“I hate the Bruins. I hate them with a passion,” Boyle said prior to the Valentine’s day tilt against New York. “That’s how it’s supposed to be, I think, and that’s how it’s been for a while. Last year they won and congratulations to them, but it really made me upset. I was pretty angry about it.”

The B’s-Blueshirts rivalry has been quiet for a while — the two haven’t met in the postseason since 1973 — but it appears to have heated up again this season. After the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers both lost their captains (Sidney Crosby and Chris Pronger, respectively) many figured the road through the Eastern Conference would have to go through New York or Boston.

Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk has been the most difficult goalies to score against this season. Leave it to a high-level player like Leon Draisaitl to make it look this, well, “easy.”

Draisaitl scored his 13th goal of 2016-17 by capping this pretty give-and-go play with Benoit Pouliot. You can see the frustration from Dubnyk at the end of the tally, as if he was saying “How was I supposed to stop that?” (though probably with more colorful language).

Draisaitl came into Friday with five goals and three assists in his last five games, so he’s been almost unstoppable lately.